Okay, after watching my 'family' usage for several days now, we are not being hit that high. AT&T did tell us when we all went to Smart Phones that there would be data charges I believe he said for updates and the kids said apps. I have found that an app-less phone still incurrs charges. My phone iPhone 4 has not sent and I/MEdia charges since I shut the internet OFF! Settings, General, Cellular, OFF. This restricts all data to WiFi, including email, web browsing and push notifications. My daughter informed me that she has a similar data transmission thing on her Samsung, which has worked effectively. The other iPhone, my other daughter asked if she could keep her data on due to needing to receive texts for work and there being two copies if she turns it off and then on. Not sure that that is about but I said okay, since the data is not high. She does an hourly send usually when the phone is not in use, like through the night. If my other daughter needs the internet while out for some specific reason, she just turns it back on through the phone. I do receive text messages while at home, I also don't do the internet or text alot since I kind of like my 24 inch computer screen and full size keyboard. What can I say, I remember walking with the dinosaurs.

I am only giving this information if it will help. Personally, I do not believe it is an Apple thing, as much as an AT&T thing, why? We have two Apple phones and a Samsung Galaxy and they are all doing it.

Now if I could figure out why (or some nice person email me) why my oldest can't stay connected to the Wi Fi with the Apple 4S (?), the more exciting Apple 4 phone that does color texts or something from Apple to Apple phone. I am talking she is approximately 10 feet from the router!

As I and a number of other people have noted in previous posts on this topic, here are a few key points re unusual data usage, WiFi and cellular links:

> AT&T's billing system generated excessive and erroneous data charges on my son's iPhone, including a period when he was in the hospital, his iPhone was not being used, and had no power. To AT&T's credit, I was able to speak to a customer service manager who removed these overcharges. This happened at least three times in one year. To successfully negotiate a credit, however, it is very helpful to have a third party data logger, e.g. Onavo or Dataman Pro, which will also identify data use by application, to help you find any 'data hogs'. When I described our Dataman Pro logs to the AT&T manager and offered to send him a copy, he quickly agreed to credit our account.

> If you notice massive data charges that always seem to occur around midnight, these are supposedly "rollups", where AT&T's billing system aggregates data charges that occured across multiple areas throughout the day. The curious thing: if you completely disable cellular service at night (see the notes below), these 'rollups' disappear.

> If you turn off cellular service at night and do not connect your iPhone to a charger, it will automatically revert to cellular service -- without any notice. So... to ensure that your iPhone doesn't "wake up" and allow all of those cellular data charges to start flowing again, disable cellular service AND make sure your iPhone is plugged into a charger. (Our son just selects 'Airplane mode' when he plugs his phone into the charger, which is quicker and easier.)

> In addition to all of the above, some apps can gobble large volumes of data -- without any notice. Automated iCloud backups, for example. 'Free' email apps also push graphic, audio and video ads, which can quickly add megabytes to your bill. For example, the TextFree messaging app from Pinger continues to push ads 'behind the scenes' -- even if you pay for the "ad free" option! (The ads are simply hidden, but not the data charges!) As noted above, tools are available to help you identify 'data hogs', e.g. Onavo and Dataman Pro.

I hope this is helpful to you and others. Please search for "MHays" for more details on our problems with AT&T, and the things we found.

I have an iPhone 4, the only app is the flashlight. I believe you are right in that it connected to the Internet when it went to sleep. However, Once I shut off that, through settings, general, cellular, cellular data off, it has NOT connected to Internet/MEdia as of 12/2. I just checked the bill this morning as I wanted to check the charges on all three phones. My one daughter does have Internet/MEdia charges from her iPhone during that timeframe to present and does NOT shut her cellular data off. I, however, do not. Tonight, when I leave the house should find out if it really does work outside of the house. It is either sending the notices through the WiFi or not able to send them all together. This is very strange, though, because it seems to be happening due to AT&T only. I originally thought it was iPhone because my 'then' phone was the Samsung which sat on my desk or bedroom all day and was connected to the WiFi and never unconnected. The day I noticed the charges and went to Apple, since AT&T denied it was their fault, the Samsung started to receive the charges when outside of the house and casually inside, but infrequently.

But you suggestion on the airplane mode thing and charger at night might be easy enough for my daughter to do. However, momentarily the charges don't seem to be that great and we only have the 1 GIG plan.

I am not trying to be combative, if it sounds that way, just confused that it appears to be so different for so many people.

I might also add, I use Find my Iphone to track my phones in the event they are lost.

If I turn off 3G, I can no longer track the phone.

AT&T and Apple really need to address this! If this is some way to generate revenue, they could wind up getting sued!

I'd like to see an App which is native to the hardware in the phone which doesnt require VPN, and gives bytes sent bytes received by application by interace 9WIFI, Edge, 3G 4G etc), and it must account for all bytes billed.

Onavo and Dataman Pro both record the data sent/received by application -- to help you find apps that are 'data hogs'. I purchased both, and they were invaluable in negotiations with AT&T when we found unusual data charges.

Lawrence, you are wrong. That is why Apple just pushed an update for iPhone 5 on Verizon. This is a new behavior introduced by IOS 6. You add nothing but misinformation to this thread.

He is correct. The iPhone will disconnect from wi-fi when not plugged in to the Apple supplied power supply as soon as it goes to lock, or sleep mode. This is intended to save power. It has been this way since about iOS 4.3,at least.

I'm in the UK and am experiencing this problem too, it seems my data spikes every time the clock strikes midnight. I didn't know this before as I had 3 months unlimited data usage but now I don't I got an alert saying I was close to my limit dispite rarely using my phone. I checked my previous bills at it seems it has done this since the day I got my phone

I just got my son an iPhone 5 for Christmas. We added him to my Fiance account (she has a iPhone 4S) and in the past she used about 500MB, so I got them the 2GB plan. I had to increase to the 4GB plan as just before the cycle ended, they were at 1.99 GB. Anyway, my iPhone 5 is a company phone but I am the Admin for our account. I logged in and saw that I was using about 1GB a month. I was wondering why he was using more than me. I started to look into and he had about 1 GB in a month in data charges in the middle of the night. I was shocked. I am testing several things to figure out what it exactly is. I am tunring off the location based services iAds tonight to see if that does anything. My guess it is APPS doing this (he has quite a few games on his hone where I do not). The only time he is on LTE is when he turns phone on his way home on the bus. When he gets home, he has WIFI at his mothers, and my house as well.

Here is how his looks for the past few weeks. I missed a few days with the screen shots, but you get the point. Look at the times....Odd....1 am...4am etc. He is 12 and goes to bed about 9pm and wakes about 630 am for school. There are allot of DL's that of course are legit.

To GoBlueDJ and others with the 'data charges in the middle of the night' problem:

The problem with large data charges in the middle of the night has been documented extensively on this board. In a nutshell:

> AT&T tech support managers told me and others that their accounting system "rolls up" charges logged through various antenna points throughout the day, and an aggregate charge is posted around midnight. This explanation should be taken with a big grain of salt, however. (See below.)

> We repeatedly encountered the problem on our son's iPhone. Data charges were even billed when he was in the hospital, with the iPhone powered down and unused.

> If you diplomatically dispute the charges, and escalate to a supervisor if needed, AT&T will often issue a refund. It is very helpful to have third-party usage reports to back up your argument, from an independent 'data monitor' app like DataMan Pro or Onavo.

> The most reliable solution: disable cell service from 11pm to 1am. The quickest and easiest option is turning on "airplane mode". If you turn off cell service only, make sure the iPhone is plugged into a charger. If not, it will automatically revert to a cellular connection when it goes to sleep. If you disable cellular service around midnight, the big midnight data charges simply vanish. They do not reappear at a later time. (So much for AT&T's explanation.)

> Also watch for hidden 'data hog' apps with your data monitor app. We found, for example, that the TextFree app pushes ad images that can add up -- even if you buy the 'paid' option. (This simply hides the ads; all of the data still hits your account.) Any kind of video is a killer, e.g. YouTube, movies, video chat, etc. Our son did not appreciate the exponential difference in data consumption, compared to music -- until we walked through some examples.

I just discovered there's something downloading 100 MB /day all of a sudden for past 10 days with no new apps or anything, got warning msgs that i'm almost over 1 gb limit, this is Telus Montreal, Canada. Strange that it's download not upload like most here. If i had old dataman where per app bytes is supported would be glad, if you have that app which is now removed, guard it closely and i'm jealous! I do have iDataUsage which indeed reports 1100mb download, this all happened while the phone was sitting plugged in and not used at all, zip, nada, almost forgot about it, wifi on router is only turned on when needed in case there's any truth to the waves causing mental disturbances or whatever. Phone was used mainly for making apps which are completed for now.

So turned off cell data till next cycle, also got rid of iCloud, backup etc wasn't setup but who knows, still a suspect. Telus doesn't want to talk much about refunds because i'm over by such small amount, but still ~20 bucks or whatever, i'm unpleased to pay, and will call again if i do see much of an extra charge. Wish me luck right?

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